Baritone Victor Benedetti has become known around the country as a performer who combines his vocal gifts with an innate stage presence that enables him to bring characters of all types to life. Mr. Benedetti made his debut with New York City Opera in the title role of Don Giovanni, a performance that awarded him New York City Opera’s Debut Artist of the Year Award.

He has also performed with New York City Opera as Escamillo in Carmen, Count in Le Nozze di Figaro, Papageno in The Magic Flute, Father in Hansel und Gretel, and Slim in Of Mice and Men. With Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center, he has appeared as McLean in Susannah, Nardo in La Finta Giardiniera, Slim in Of Mice and Men, John Proctor in The Crucible, and John Sorel in The Consul. With the Lyric Opera of Chicago, he has performed Dr. Malatesta in Don Pasquale, Grech in Fedora, and Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte.

Benedetti has become a favorite of the Arizona Opera performing the Father in Hansel & Gretel, Zurga in The Pearl Fishers, John Sorel in The Consul, and Mr.Peachum in The Threepenny Opera. Recent engagements include Slim in Of Mice & Men with Florentine Opera, Escamillo in Carmen with the Singapore Lyric Opera, Peter in Hansel und Gretel and Horace Tabor in The Ballad of Baby Doe with Utah Opera, Marcello in La Boheme and Zurga in The Pearl Fishers with Nashville Opera, and Escamillo in Carmen in his European debut with Oper der Stadt Bonn.

Previous engagements have included the Count in Le Nozze di Figaro with Fort Worth Opera, the Count in Le Nozze di Figaro and Sharpless in Madama Butterfly with Opera Grand Rapids, Zurga in The Pearl Fishers with Indianapolis Opera, and his first Germont in La Traviata with Anton Coppola. He also created the leading role of Sandy Lincoln in the world premiere of Bruce Saylor’s The Scrimshaw Violin in New York City. Additional engagements have also included Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor with Florida Grand Opera, the title role in Don Giovanni & Marcello in La Boheme with Minnesota Opera, and Silvio in I Pagliacci with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. He is a favorite at The Opera Festival of New Jersey where he debuted as the title role in Don Giovanni, and went on to perform Ford in Falstaff, and the title role in Dallapiccola’s Il Prigioniero.

Also an active concert artist, Mr. Benedetti has performed the baritone solos in Brahms’ Requiem, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, and Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony. He performed a concert of Mozart works with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and a Rossini Gala with the Ravinia Festival. Recent concert engagements have included his Carnegie Hall debut in Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass and Handel’s Messiah, and his first performances of Orff’s Carmina Burana and the title role of Mendelssohn’s Elijah.

Mr. Benedetti received a Bachelor and Master of Music from Northwestern University and then joined the prestigious Lyric Opera Center for American Artists of the Lyric Opera of Chicago. There he performed numerous roles and received national and international praise for his creation of the title role in the world premiere of Bruce Saylor’s operatic adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ Orpheus Descending – a role he recently reprised in New York to critical acclaim. He was a competition winner of the Liederkrantz Foundation, George London Foundation Awards, received First Prize with the Sullivan Foundation, and was a finalist for the Placido Domingo Operalia in Tokyo.

Recently Mr. Benedetti performed the title role in Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis directed by Rhoda Levine in Seattle, brought his critically acclaimed portrayal of Don Giovanni to the Théâtre Municipal in Castres, France, and sang the leading role of Henry in Jake Heggie’s The End of the Affair in Kansas City which was recorded for an upcoming release. This season sees Benedetti returning to Arizona as Dr.Falke in Die Fledermaus, singing two roles for Indianapolis Opera: The Father in Hansel und Gretel as well as his first Scarpia in Tosca, and returning to France in the title role of Falstaff.